Final exam Flashcards
(40 cards)
Doubts about Single Mosaic authorship of the Torah, and the origin of the Documentary Hypothesis
a. Different choice of words and variation of style
b. Double (triple) versions of the same stories
c. Repetitions of detail within the same passage
d. Insertions of extraneous material into an otherwise continuous account
e. Contradictions concerning matters of fact
f. Differences of cultural and religious point of view
Documentary Hypothesis says that there were four different sources—Yahwist, Elohist, Priestly, and Deuteronomist—that were combined sometime around the time of the Exile to Babylon to for the Torah we know today.
Characteristics of the Priestly text (P)
Dry and formalistic
Interested in dates, genealogies, covenants and ritual observance.
There are no fantastic elements (angles, talking animals, etc.), but there are still accounts of miracles.
Characteristics of the Deuteronomist source (D)
Found primarily in Deuteronomy
YHWH Loves Israel, Israel is commanded to love YHWH, obey him, and listen to his voice.
Covenant is a central theme here too.
Characteristics of the Yawhist source (J)
Colorful Anthropomorphic God Theme of promise and fulfillment Uses YHWH as the name of God Epic style God speaks directly to people
Characteristics of the Elohist source (E)
Uses Elohim as the name of God
Talks about the fear of God
Revelation comes from dreams
Closely associated with J
722 BCE
Northern Kingdom fell
586 BCE
Southern Kingdom fell
1250 BCE
Date most scholars assign to the Exodus
This is mostly attributed to evidence that Semitic labor was used to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses, which were built around this time.
There is evidence that the Habiru people were part of this construction.
Other evidence shows a tribe entering Egypt a during a time of drought a few generations before.
Finally, a series of plagues and illnesses were recorded around the time.
The Yahwist Creation account
Gen 2:4b-3:25
The focus of this narrative is on the human in the garden
God is anthropomorphic
Draws from other ANE religions
Has a fairy tale feel to the story
God proceeds in a kind of trial and error sort of way
This is mythological in nature
The Priestly Creation story
Marked by the formal, somewhat dry style of the priestly source
Includes a careful structure and repetition
God is deliberate and in total control
Gis omnipotent
This account is formulaic
It is theological in nature
Overall purpose of the Genesis 1-11 Account
To explain the different aspects of the world and human existence and set off the justification for the promise of land in Ancestral narratives
Purpose and Nature of the Creation stories in Gen. 1-3:24
Provide a general cosmology and etiologies for some aspects of human nature and existence: characterized by an interest in beginnings.
Gen 1-2:4b Emphasizes the order of the created universe and the sovereignty of the God who created it.
Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:4b-3:24): emphasis on human sexuality and the maintenance of the boundary between divinity and humanity (assigns woman as a possession of man-ish)
Purpose and nature of the Development of the human race
The Cain and Seth lines (4:1-26): Technological developments and moral degeneration
Principals in the genealogies presented as originators of different technologies:
a. Agriculture and Animal husbandry (4:2)
b. Founding of a city (4:17)
c. Cattle rearing, musical instruments (4:20-22)
The developments are marked by an increasing tempo of violence.
This helps to explain how different aspects of technology and culture developed in prehistoric times.
Humanity before the Deluge (5:1-6:8)
The list of the descendants of Adam through Seth (5:1-32)
The maintenance of the boundary between divinity and humanity (6:1-8)
This shows the proper line from Adam to the Patriarchs through noah. The pre-flood account also tells how god preserved this line from corruption and because that line remained pure.
Noah and the Deluge (6:9-9:29)
The destruction of the old order through a flood (6:9-7:24)
The establishment of the new order (8:1-9:19)
Noah and his sons (9:20-29)
This, again, shows God’s preservation of the chosen people and it supports the later claim to the land, because, after all, the people God chose are directly linked to the people God created in the first place.
Humanity after the Deluge (10:1-11:26)
The Descendants of Noah (10:1-11:9)
P-shows how the great array of nations is the result of the creation blessing and command to fill the earth
J-demonstrates how the drive for power and status exercises its influence
The Japhet list (10:1-5) most of them can be identified with ethnic groups settled in Asia Minor, Armenia and the Aegean region
Ham list (10:6-20) List of places and peoples is organized according to the four ethnic groups of Ethiopia (Nubians), Egyptians, Libyans and Canaanites.
The Shem List (10:21-32) – list five peoples and four descendant of Aram. Elamites, Assyrians and Arameans are well known.
The city and Tower of Babel (11:1-9):
Explains the geographical dispersion of the peoples listed in the Shem list
Explains the differentiation of languages among them
The Shem line (11:10-26) narrows down to one of the three great branches of the human family, arriving via Eber, the eponymous ancestor of Hebrews, to Abraham.
Major themes in the Ancestral Narratives
- Promise of descendants (Posterity) Abraham will be made into a great nation
- Promise of land
- Promise of blessing (protection)
None of these promises is fully fulfilled in the Genesis account, but they will all be fulfilled later in the Torah. Also, it’s important that all of these promises serves to justify Israel’s claim to the land. The threats to all of these elements is also treated.
Threats to the promise of descendants
• The first threat is that Sarah is barren
o Possibly the reason he wants to move is because he wants to adopt Lot, so that he will have progeny
• The purity of the line
o Abraham leaves Haran and arrives in the land
o There was a famine in the land and Sarah is taken into Pharaoh’s house
o Because Sarah was barren, so there’s no way she could have had an Egyptian child
o The idea, of course, is that women are infertile, not men
•Ishmael presents a problem that Abraham creates, since it is not really following God’s command
Chapter 22 the sacrifice of Isaac
• Chapter 25- Twins (Jacob and Esau)
Threats to the promise of Land
• Begins at Chapter 12
o This land is already occupied, and that is a problem
• Chapter 13
o Abraham and lot part ways
• The story of Jacob as threat to the land
o Genesis 32 (coming back to the land)
• The Joseph Stories
• The threat to the heirs is about the famine
• The threat to the land is the movement into Egypt
The promise of protection
o Chapter 37 presents Joseph as the hero of the story
• In the Joseph story, the interaction of God is secondary
• God is not a character in the same way as in the other stories
o 39-41
• These show all of the ups and downs of Joseph’s life
• There is this oddness of Potifer’s wife having his clothes
• He ends up in prison and starts interpreting dreams
The Cup-barer and the baker
• The prosperity and the famine
• God’s work is an interpretive aside
• Joseph reveals himself to his brothers
You meant this for evil, but God meant it for good
In this work he saved the nation from the threat to the heirs and to the land
God Protects Joseph.
Religion of the Ancestors
• The worship of a personal God of a particular person or clan
o This the “God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”
o The clan-head would make a covenant with a specific god for the protection of the clan
• The names of God
o Pahad- Translated as “fear”
o ‘avir- Translated as the “Might one of Israel”
• The covenant (Barit) between Abraham and God
• The ancestors are shown as worshiping another God
o Look at all the names for God.
o They all start with references to the Canaanite god El
Additional themes
• These are legendary stories embellished to highlight a specific element
• The Abraham/Lot narrative
o Chapter 13
o This parting of the ways is the beginning of a new narrative
• This tale is designed to tell the origin story of yet another people group
• Chapter 26 has the story of Isaac
o The theme is the division between Israelites and Philistines
• The Jacob Narrative 25 & 27-35
o The overarching theme:
• Jacob’s conflict with Esau
• Conflict with Laban
habiru/hapiru/’apiru
All names for the ancient group of people who were semi-nomadic mercenaries in the ANE. This is where we get the word “hebrew”
Yam Suf
The Hebrew phrase from which we get either red or reed sea (the meaning isn’t precisely clear).
